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Monday, May 12, 2014

Americans treated like prisoners-For your own safety of course

Benjamin Franklin: “It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”

Americans are treated like prisoners every day. It doesn't even
matter if you've committed a crime. Government agencies are bringing prison
practices to Main Street America in the name of national security.

Your rights and privacy are being stripped away, "for your own
safety."

Their vision of a perfectly secure and safe society has no room for privacy. No
room for dissent. And before long, there won't be any room for creativity or
innovation either.

It's no wonder our economy is as sluggish as it is. Economic stagnation
naturally follows the loss of freedom.

There's more than one reason why free countries prosper and tyrannical
countries don't. The freedom to express yourself, to wonder, to invent … these
are the things that enrich the society we're living in. But in order to have
these things, a society has to value freedom.

They Track Your Every
Move
High-tech camera systems are useful inside prisons, because authorities
want to be able to quickly identify anyone that starts trouble or commits
a crime. It makes sense.

But these days, cameras and surveillance systems are just as prevalent and
even more sophisticated outside prison walls.

Think about all of the places you see surveillance cameras every day.
Traffic cameras over intersections. Video surveillance cameras on public
streets and plazas. Many cities now are even setting up camera systems to
track license plates. Plain and simple, your movements are being monitored
and tracked on a daily basis

Random Checkpoints
When someone commit a crime, is convicted in a court of law, and is then
imprisoned, they're stripped of their right to privacy while they serve
out their sentence.

Part of that loss of privacy means that pison authorities will randomly
check prisoner's living quarters for weapons or drugs and may seven top
prisoners and pat them down. It makes good sense, if the person has been
convicted and sentenced.

But what about the random checkpoints and roadblocks that police regularly
use on law-abiding citizens? What about he "stop-and-frisk "
policy that became infamous in New York?
If you happen to be stopped at a roadblock or a random check point, a law
enforcement officer will ask you questions about your activities and
plans. He’ll look you over and scan inside your vehicle, too. If he feels
anything is out of the ordinary, he might ask you to submit your vehicle
to a search.

How is that any different than how prisoners are treated? Other than of
course, in the case of a prisoner, they've been convicted of a crime.

Telephone Monitoring
The phone calls that prisoners make while they're confined are monitored
for good reason. Authorities want to prevent additional crimes, riots,
escape plans, etc.

Now consider the telephone surveillance conducted by the National Security
Agency (NSA) on the communications of all Americans. The NSA knows who
you’re calling. And who’s calling you. They can use your cell phone to
track your location and your movements. And then they gather and store all
of the information they've collected "in case they need it in the
future."

They're watching "just in case."

With the information they gather through cell phone data, federal
officials can put together a very complete picture of your life. They can
see where you work, where you spend your free time, who your friends are,
even what times of day you leave and come home.

Depending on the applications you have on your phone, they may able able
to figure out even more, like where you shop and what you like to read.

Informants
Most prisons rely on an underground network of snitches to provide
information about what is happening among their inmates.

Authorities want to know who’s smuggling in contraband. Who’s planning to
attack someone else, or trying to escape That kind of thing.

But law enforcement officials on the outside have also long relied on
snitches— usually small-time criminals— to help them land "bigger
fish."

But it’s only just recently that law officers have begun calling on
average citizens to report suspicious behavior among their friends,
colleagues and neighbors.

The Department of Homeland Security's "See Something, Say
Something," campaign seeks to build a national network of snitches,
tasking everyday American citizens with reporting "suspicious
activity" by their fellow citizens to appropriate law enforcement.

Armed Guard Towers
The right to gather peaceably and protest against the actions of our
government is sacred, and guaranteed to us by the First Amendment.

But these days, no protest is complete with out a police presence, just in case the crowd needs controlling.
And the strategies those officers use against protesters are the exact
same ones they use to control crowds behind prison walls.

Guard towers are constructed to secure the perimeter of prison yards. At
the top sit armed guards, radios or other communications equipment, and
cameras.

New technology from TerraHawk, LLC allows law enforcement to move this surveillance
tactic from out of the prison yard and onto city street corners.

Officers are already using TerraHawks's Mobile Utility Surveillance Tower,
or "M.U.S.T." as they like to call it, in parking lots and
anywhere large groups of citizens are gathering.
According to the company's official website, the M.U.S.T. "uses its
own vehicle to deploy an elevated tower and climate controlled capsule to
an eye level height of over 25 feet. The vehicle can be fully deployed by
one person at any location in less than two minutes without leaving the
vehicle."

In
the name of safety and security, the federal government and even local and
state agencies are turning our nation into one where the citizens are treated
like prisoners "for their own good."

If
you've committed a crime and been convicted and sent to prison you've given up
your right to privacy. That's true.

Do you know if a cyber-criminal, online predator or
malware has access to your Smartphone today? With over 860
million identity thefts in the USA (see: http://www.privacyrights.org), most
likely not. Just listen to my episode where I recently interviewed the CEO and
founder of SnoopWall, Gary Miliefsky (starts at the 11.50 minute mark). Here's
a link to the episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aoNGl96HYU

If you would
like to learn more about the US economy's phony foundations, how the whole mess
will come crashing down, and what you can do right now to protect yourself,
consider reading our NEW book…How to
Survive the War on the Middle Class.